United Kingdom (UK) General Insurance (Personal and Commercial Lines) Market Snapshot - Analyzing Gross Written Premiums (GWP), Drivers, Growth Potential and Product Distribution

United Kingdom (UK) General Insurance (Personal and Commercial Lines) Market Snapshot - Analyzing Gross Written Premiums (GWP), Drivers, Growth Potential and Product Distribution

Summary

The UK general insurance market grew by 6.2% in 2021. Strong performances in commercial lines, by virtue of hardening market rates, have more than compensated for reduced premiums and lower uptake in the important (motor and home) personal lines.

This report gives a brief overview of both personal and commercial lines in the UK general insurance market. In the personal lines, this includes private motor, household, travel, and pet. In the commercial lines, this includes commercial motor, commercial property, and employers’ liability. The report presents some underlying drivers of gross written premiums (GWP) in these markets, as well as areas for future growth. The report goes on to discuss product distribution within both segments of the market.

Scope

• The total UK general insurance market grew by 6.2% in 2021.
• The total personal insurance market contracted by 3.5% in 2021, falling to GBP28.22 billion in GWP.
• The total commercial lines market experienced growth in GWP in 2021, rising to GBP26.61 billion, an increase of 18.8% on 2020.
• The direct channel is expected to have lost some of the share of distribution in personal lines, decreasing its share by 0.5 percentage points (pp) to 48.9% in 2022.
• We estimate that brokers will remain the dominant distribution channel for commercial lines in 2022, increasing their share by 0.1pp to 79.7%.

• Understand how certain core markets in the UK general insurance market are expected to have performed in 2021.
• Ascertain how underlying factors and drivers in these markets will shape them going forward.
• Explore the future market shares in the distribution of both commercial and personal lines to 2026f.